The advantages of Suburban enclaves over urban enclaves for community empowerment: Korean immigrants in greater New York

Abstract

ABSTRACT European immigrants at the turn of the twenty century initially established their enclaves in central cities, but gradually moved to suburban areas as they achieved assimilation and social mobility. Post-1965 Asian immigrants followed the same pattern of spatial assimilation, moving from central-city enclaves to suburban areas. However, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese groups have established their enclaves in suburban areas. Suburban enclaves have advantages over central-city enclaves in their electoral politics and preservation and promotion of ethnic culture. But no social scientist has paid attention to this social phenomenon. This paper compares Korean ethnic enclaves in Queens, New York City with suburban Korean enclaves in Bergen County, New Jersey to examine the advantages of suburban enclaves. The findings show that as expected Korean suburban enclaves give Koreans huge advantages over those in Queens in electoral politics, preservation of Korean culture, and the installment of Korean “comfort women” statues.